Throughout its third season in 2004, “Degrassi: The Subsequent Era” spotlighted abortion, with 14-year-old burgeoning gymnast Manny Santos (Cassie Steele) as the focus of the two-part episode titled “Accidents Will Occur.”
In Half 1, forward of a gymnastics meet, Manny is coping with bouts of nausea and thinks she’s caught a abdomen flu. When Manny lends her tampons to teammate Hazel (Andrea Lewis), she says, “Right here — I haven’t used mine in perpetually.” Manny assumes that as a result of she’s been via strenuous coaching recently, her interval is simply delayed. However her finest good friend, Emma (Miriam McDonald), is greatly surprised and says, “Actually?” and finally means that it may very well be one thing else. Aggravated by her nosy good friend, Manny walks off.
Nonetheless, the considered a skipped interval being attributed to one thing else follows her. She later asks Emma’s mom, Spike, who birthed her personal daughter as a teen, for a being pregnant take a look at. Her worst nightmare is confirmed: She’s pregnant. Fearful about being despatched off to a convent within the Philippines, like her cousin, Manny begins weighing her choices. The 2-part episode ends together with her getting an abortion.
Because it aired, the episode has been heralded as a progressive catalyst for illustration surrounding abortion storylines onscreen. Nonetheless, then — and now — teen abortions had been hardly ever proven on tv. Screenwriter Shelley Scarrow had been a fan of Linda Schuyler’s authentic teen sequence from the ’80s, “The Youngsters of Degrassi Avenue,” and knew that the sequence at all times touched on hot-button subjects.
Its revived iteration adopted a brand new class of youth at Degrassi Group Faculty and was extensively fashionable in america, airing on Nickelodeon’s Teen Nick (beforehand referred to as The N and Nick Fuel). (In January, it was introduced that a new “Degrassi” reboot has been greenlit and is anticipated to launch within the U.S. completely on HBO Max in 2023.)
The sequence touched on ultra-heavy and high-stakes points: sexuality, sexual assault, penis pumps, disordered consuming, faculty shootings, Islamophobia and different large subjects.
“In case your argument is that you simply wish to train youngsters to be safer about intercourse, then you need to have the episode the place somebody fucks up and goes via this, to take care of it. As a result of when youngsters watch TV, they’re fantasizing themselves in conditions,” Scarrow stated.
“All of us do,” she continued. “You could have to have the ability to see your self as a younger lady, as a younger lady of colour, as a younger lady with reproductive freedom. You could have to have the ability to see it. I simply suppose we’re chopping out an infinite and essential a part of younger pregnant folks’s lives.”
The fewabortion narratives on TV don't mirror our society; younger folks, folks of colour and different marginalized teams usually don’t see their experiences with abortion proven on display screen. As a substitute, audiences usually see youth navigating being pregnant, from MTV’s actuality tv franchise “Teen Mother” to ABC Household’s drama-soap “The Secret Lifetime of the American Teenager.” And it’s uncommon to see a balanced dialogue between characters in regards to the choices out there to them upon discovering they’re pregnant.
Regardless of airing different controversial subjects, “Accidents Will Occur” was initially banned in america and didn’t air till a number of years later. Scarrow was a workers author for the primary 4 seasons of “Degrassi: The Subsequent Era” and the architect of the two-part episode. She talked to HuffPost about her inspiration for Manny’s storyline, the state of how abortion is addressed on display screen right this moment and what it was like having her episode banned within the U.S.
HuffPost: “Degrassi: The Subsequent Era” has by no means shied away from any matter — ever. Do you know that abortion was one thing you wished the sequence to handle?
Shelley Scarrow: “The Subsequent Era” is predicated on a good older present that was out within the ’80s. One of many hallmarks of that present, one of many issues that individuals remembered, is that they did talk about abortion, and one of many twins on the outdated present went via an abortion. So after I was a child, I remembered seeing that, and I bear in mind discussing that with my associates on the playground. It wasn’t even simply me. It was simply kind of baked into the present; it was one thing that the present had already talked about, and we knew we wished to discuss it in a brand new and totally different manner with totally different characters.
Yearly in the beginning of the writing room in “Degrassi,” we'd put up the checklist of points that we wished to speak about that yr. It was very a lot the framework of the present that we had been like, ‘Right here’s scorching shit we wish to discuss,’ and abortion was at all times on there. It was only a matter of ready till it was the correct character and the correct second and what felt proper for that individual. Manny was simply the apparent selection. I associated essentially the most strongly to her. If anybody ever asks me what character was the simplest, I felt like I may completely write Manny in my sleep. She simply was this uncooked, stunning nerve that I responded to.
In popular culture, we don’t are inclined to see many depictions of younger adolescents of colour grappling with abortion. Cassie Steele’s portrayal of Manny Santos was groundbreaking in that she was this younger Filipina coping with an unplanned being pregnant, managing her mother and father’ expectations, navigating concern and different points. Did you understand at that second that her narrative would have such a profound impression?
I don’t suppose that I seen it at that lens, which is likely to be a deficiency of me as a author in 2003. I simply thought loads about who Manny was. I cherished Manny’s background and Manny’s household. We did a number of analysis and had conversations with Filipino associates in regards to the tradition. However I don’t suppose we got here at it that manner in any respect. One of many nice issues about writing “Degrassi” was that it’s an anthology present, and I feel it’s, like, one of many secrets and techniques that no one realizes is that every episode is about someone solely new. There aren’t that many reveals that do this, and so everytime you get an opportunity to write down a personality, you kind of bounce into their life. And I cherished leaping into that facet of her.
Within the episode, we see Manny meander via the method of determining her choices. She consults her finest good friend, Emma, who's staunchly pro-life, and Emma’s mom, Spike, who carried out her teen being pregnant. That episode marks one of many few occasions I’ve seen a dialogue between characters about abortion versus assuming the destiny of the embryo. As a author, was it essential to you to point out that thought course of and the way a 13- or 14-year-old would rationalize their selections?
I feel so. It was one of many writing guidelines of the present that an grownup was by no means allowed to return in and inform a child what to do. That was one of many issues that we felt very strongly about, and that was imparted by Linda [Schuyler] from the unique sequence. An grownup wasn’t allowed to fly in and be the fairy godmother and make the selection for the child; all the alternatives needed to come on the child degree. So chatting with her associates about it and reflecting it via dialogue together with her associates was actually essential.
Spike was in a singular state of affairs as a result of she was on the outdated present, and other people had seen her undergo it again within the ’80s. She was somewhat little bit of an exception to the rule, however she didn’t categorical an opinion to Manny or inform her what to do. (A) as a result of that’s not who Spike is as a human being however (B) as a result of that was one of many mandates of the present.
I even learn a few years in the past some folks had written extra up-to-date items on abortion selection and a few folks expressed frustration with Emma doing that, and saying that she was type of a awful good friend. To me, that was kind of the core of depicting abortion. The fact of it's that individuals aren’t going to have the identical opinions as you, and I feel that that’s possibly somewhat little bit of what’s missing in depictions and in the actual world. A part of the reality of that story is the friendship of somebody who doesn’t agree with you continue to supporting you — and that may not be everybody’s model of friendship, but it surely’s my model of friendship, and I feel that it’s additionally essential within the abortion dialogue.
In consulting her family members, Manny goes again to Craig, who she had intercourse with. Viewers see Manny making an attempt to retrace their steps, asking, “You used a condom, proper?” Manny was clearly frightened in regards to the prospect of constructing a future with him. Aside from advancing Craig’s storyline, why was it essential to you to depict them going backwards and forwards?
I don’t wish to say essentially the most political factor doable, however I’m going to say essentially the most political factor doable. I feel that finally the precise choice rests on the girl and may relaxation on the girl. I simply imagine that very absolutely as a human being. I’m not going to say it was immaterial what Craig’s response was, however I wished Manny to search out her manner. That was as a result of, to me, that was the last word message of the present: That is your choice. That is your selection. You make it and also you determine who you discuss to about it. You determine.
The 2-part episode ends with Manny and her mom on the clinic and a nurse strolling Manny right into a room for her process. We don’t see her take a capsule, lie on a gurney or any chilling, chilly, preoperative protocol. Somewhat, she’s taken beneath the nurse’s wing ― and the display screen fades to black. Why is that?
I truly had a good friend who labored in an abortion clinic on the time, and I talked to her loads. I did a number of analysis on that episode together with her. I talked to a few of her associates who had been nurses. That type of second in your life is large, and skipping it in any manner was simply not on the desk. It was actually essential for me to see that she’s OK. There’s a lot rhetoric round abortion — a lot offended rhetoric — however in my expertise with associates who’ve gone via abortions, it’s a call that you simply make similar to in case you went to the dentist. Now, it’s not the identical as going to the dentist, however what I’m making an attempt to say is the fact of going via the clinic and the process. It’s not hellfire and horror; it’s a medical process. It’s one thing you go to a health care provider’s workplace for, and also you do, and displaying that was essential.
What was your response upon realizing that Half 2 of the episode had been banned within the U.S.? (The N, the U.S. distributor of “Degrassi: The Subsequent Era,” refused to air the second a part of the episode for years.)
I used to be like, ‘I'm hardcore! I’m banned in America!’ Like, if nothing else, put this on my headstone. It was the one episode that was banned — and we did loopy shit! James [Hurst] wrote a penis pump episode that they confirmed, and so they talked a few penis pump. And I used to be like, ‘We are able to discuss that, however we will’t take care of this very actual challenge that your viewers are going via?’ I'll say Nickelodeon was very supportive your entire manner via the method, and so they tried actually onerous internally — and I'll by no means take that away from them.
I went on a journey with Manny in writing these episodes. I used to be a 30-year-old lady after I wrote these episodes, and I feel that I had at all times been pro-choice. There's something in regards to the act of sitting down and going via it very instantly from a personality’s viewpoint — and having to suppose via Emma’s viewpoint, which was 100% not the identical as mine — that made me query abortion in a rigorous method. I nonetheless got here again round to my similar choice, however I used to be like, ‘That is what artwork does. That is what artwork is meant to do.’ That’s the fact for lots of younger girls, and I applaud it. However I simply suppose it’s essential to point out all the alternatives and to be rigorous about them in order that it’s knowledgeable on all ranges and all sides as a result of in any other case you simply find yourself on this binary.
We’re nonetheless on this period the place tv storylines that tackle abortion are perceived as taboo. Even the methods by which it's depicted are very slender, usually centering a cis-het white feminine lead. What does it imply to you now that that is nonetheless a subject of rivalry on display screen? Why is it essential to proceed to point out these thorough storylines, with all choices entrance and middle?
I’m conscious that I'm a white lady saying this, however I feel illustration issues. And I feel that illustration on all the things issues. And so I feel that if we’re chopping out illustration of what the 1000's of ladies and pregnant individuals are truly doing, and the selection that they’re making, then we’re not letting them see themselves on TV. And we’re additionally not making ready folks mentally. In case your argument is that you simply wish to train youngsters to be safer about intercourse, then you need to have the episode the place somebody fucks up and goes via this, to take care of it. As a result of when youngsters watch TV, they’re fantasizing themselves in conditions. All of us do. You could have to have the ability to see your self as a younger lady, as a younger lady of colour, as a younger lady with reproductive freedom. You could have to have the ability to see it. I simply suppose we’re chopping out an infinite and essential a part of younger pregnant folks’s lives.
What's your hope for the evolution of how screenwriters painting youth navigating abortion on tv and in films? What would you wish to see from the subsequent era of writers?
To me, it’s reality and honesty and rigor, and I feel that’s the job of storyteller, and I feel that’s the job of story. I might like to see extra illustration, interval, together with girls making the selection to maintain a baby, together with girls making the selection to place them up for adoption. I really feel just like the steadiness has by no means been equal. We've by no means, ever seen sufficient representations of this selection that a number of younger folks make — together with trans folks, pregnant folks of all stripes. That’s what I wish to see: rigor, honesty, and somewhat bit extra steadiness.
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